Arun Jaitley: "We are committed to governance in Kashmir"

New Delhi, March 20: The Bharatiya Janata Party is fully committed to the agenda of governance in Jammu and Kashmir, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Sunday.

Speaking about the discussions held at the National Executive meet here, Jaitley talked about the government formation issue in Kashmir as well as the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) row.

On Jammu and Kashmir, he said: "We stand fully committed as far as the agenda of governance (signed with the Peoples Democratic Party)."

But he added that there was a reference to "national security" in the Kashmir resolution.

On JNU, Jaitley said: "Though on the first day some people did come and raise anti-national slogans in JNU, by and large in the entire debate on the anti-national slogans, the ultra-left was in the forefront.

"In fact the members or leaders of the minority community did not come up. Most of them didn't comment or participate in that debate."

He said: "Ideology of nationalism is driving force for BJP. Free speech can co-exist with idea of nationalism. While our Constitution allows for free speech and dissent, it does not permit destruction of the nation."

Jaitley said that on the Ishrat Jahan case, the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government undermined national security.

"When the Congress was in power, the manner in which they attempted to undermine national security in the Ishrat Jahan case was also raised in the meeting."

He said the BJP meeting also discussed how we streamlined defence procurements to avoid corruption and how India could improve relations with neighbouring countries and across the world.

He stressed on the idea of encouraging Dalit entrepreneurs.

"There is an effort by the government to encourage and strengthen Dalit entrepreneurs as an institution. Our main focus is economic and social inclusion, good governance," said Jaitley.

"There is a chapter on poverty alleviation. All the economic policies of the government and the initiatives launched by the government were discussed.

"There is a proposal to increase BJP membership in the areas that are not BJP strongholds. We have already shown improvement in all states," Jaitley said.